Core mounting



1965 e. H. BARNES ETAL 3,

CORE MOUNTING Filed May 29, 1961 5 Sheets$heet 1 2o RS 44 GEORGE H. BARNES BY ROBERT SAMSON Fig.3 zub'emm 71061? AGENT Oct. 26, 1965 cs. H. BARNES ETAL 3,214,744

CORE MOUNTING Filed May 29, 1961 5 Sheets-Sheet 2 J INVENTORS. v GEORGE H. BARNES so By ROBERT SAM N WM @mw AGENT Oct. 26, 1965 G. H. BARNES ETAL 3,214,744

GORE MOUNTING Filed May 29, 1961 3 Sheets-Sheet 3 9 4 2O 62 6O Fl. 8

GEORGE H. BARNES ROBERT SAMSON BY I Fig. 9 [V M A flail? AGENT United States Patent 3,214,744 CORE MUUNTING George H. Barnes, llBerwyn, and Robert Samson, Wayne, Pa., assignors to Burroughs Corporation, Detroit, Mich., a corporation of Michigan Filed May 29, 1961, Ser. No. 113,404 10 Claims. (ill. 340-174) This invention relates to toroidal core assemblies, and more particularly to the provision of novel memory plane construction facilitating the assemblage of magnetic cores and their conductors in predetermined relation.

In the co-pending application of Robert M. Tillman for Electromagnetic Transducer, Serial No. 818,298, filed June 5, 1959, now abandoned in favor of continuationin-part application Serial No. 30,057, filed May 17, 1960, and both assigned to the same assignee as the instant invention there is disclosed an arrangement of cores cemented into holes in a flat phenolic card. The cores are disposed in rows and columns. READ wire windings are wound transversely around all of the cores rowwise and SENSE windings are threaded through successive columns of cores. In such construction each plane contains all the words for that plane with a woven sense line running twice through each bit of each word in the plane.

It is the principle object of the present invention to provide an improved toroidal core assembly incorporating the principles of the above mentioned Tillman application.

A further object of the invention is to provide a magnetic core module housing a plurality of toroidal cores in a manner facilitating their assembly and replacement in a memory plane and simultaneously affording protection for the cores therein.

A still further object of the invention is to provide a core mounting for toroidal cores wherein provision is made for separation between orthogonally disposed windings individual to said cores.

In accordance with the above objects and first briefly described, the invention comprises elongated core-holding modules or units, and assemblages of these modules in memory planes. Each module is formed by a multi-part housing enclosing a plurality of toroidal magnetic cores in rows. Windings are wound in solenoid form transversely in a lengthwise direction around a housing part of the module and simultaneously encircle all of the cores. Another housing part is effective to lock the cores and solenoid windings in their respective positions. A plurality of such core-holding modules, which constitute the basic building blocks of the memory planes, are stacked together and additional windings are passed axially through the cores at right angles to the solenoid windings, thus to form individual core planes. The modules are provided with shield means at their ends to counteract r stray magnetic fields generated by the windings as they pass around the ends of the modules. A plurality of such planes are assembled together to form a memory assembly. Planar members each formed of material to constitute a permanent magnet are sandwiched between the memory planes in proximity to the solenoid windings so as to lie in the flux path of said windings when current is passed therethrough.

For a better understanding of the invention, reference is made to the following description in connection with the accompanying drawings:

FIG. 1 is a top plan view of a plurality of memory planes stacked one upon another and indicating the manner of assembly of the core modules within the planes;

FIG. 2 is a fragmentary end view of FIG. 1 showing a 70 pair of memory plane assemblies in vertically stacked formation;

3,214,744 Patented Oct. 26, 1965 FIG. 3 is a section taken on the line 33 of FIG. 1;

FIG. 4 is a perspective view with parts broken away of a magnetic core module constituting the basic building block of the memory plane of FIG. 1;

FIG. 5 is a perspective view similar to FIG. 4 but showing the two housing parts of the core module separated one from the other;

FIG. 6 is a perspective view similar to FIG. 5 but showing the two parts of the core module rotated 180 with respect to the showing of the parts in FIG. 5 to illustrate opposite faces thereof;

FIG. 7 is an enlarged top plan view, partially in section and partially broken away, of the core module assembly shown in FIG. 4;

FIG. 8 is an enlarged sectional view taken on the line 8-8 of FIG. 1 with parts broken away; and

FIG. 9 is a greatly enlarged section taken on the line 9-9 of FIG. 8 with parts broken away, and illustrating the sense windings extending axially through cores.

In the illustrated form of the invention, and as seen in FIG. 1, the magnetic core plane assembly 10 generally comprises a plurality of stacked memory planes 11, each comprising a plurality of core modules 12 which constitute the modular or basic building blocks of the core memory planes. In each plane the modules are mounted upon a rectangular frame 18 comprising transverse tie rods 20 and end frame members 22 and 24 to which the ends of the rods are secured. While not necessarily so limited, two columns of core modules in back-to-back relationship are carried by each frame, and constitute the memory plane 11. Magnetic shields 26 and 28 abut the end portions of the core enclosures 12. The memory planes 11 are separated from each other in vertical arrangement by means of planar members 30 each formed of material constituting a permanent magnet, the purpose of which is brought out below.

With reference to FIG. 4, it is seen that each of the core modules 12 comprise two elongated housing parts 14 and 16 joined together such as by suitably bonding their confronting faces together. As best seen in FIG. 6, part 16 includes two rows of circular recesses 32 and 34 respectively disposed parallel to each other along the top and bottom margins thereof. A toroidal magnetic core 36, of a material having a substantially rectangular hysteresis loop is positioned in each of the recesses. Prior to inserting the cores in their respective recesses, the cores may first be dipped into rubber cement, or some similar resilient bonding agent, which provides an adhesive force to keep each core in its place and yet permit it to remain in a semi-rigid state so that the cores can breathe under the effect of the magnetostrictive action when being switched between opposite states. The depth of each of the recesses 32, 34 is greater than the thickness of the core 36, the reason for which will become evident as this description continues. At the median plane of the rows of cores, grooves 38 and 39 are formed in opposite surfaces 40 and 42 of the members 16. Terminal connectors 44, 46 and 48 are fastened to one end of the housing member 16 by passage of its tongue 50 through a corresponding aperture 52 and thereafter clinching the tongue against the housing member. A pair of notches 54 and 56 are disposed between the righthand end of the rows of cores and the terminal connectors 44 and 48 respectively, as seen in FIGS. 4, 5 and 6, and serve to permit core winding 58 to be wrapped around the: part in grooves 38 and 39 respectively, as seen in FIGS. 7 and 8.

The winding, of solenoid form, as seen in FIG. 8, commences at the solder connection 60 thereof to the tongue 50 of the electrical terminal connector 48, passes forward through notch 56 to extend through groove 39 along front face 42, and then along the back face 40 thereof to return to notch 56. Successive turns of the winding are applied in the same manner. At the conclusion of a predetermined number of turns the winding is wound around and electrically connected to the tongue 50 of the common central terminal 46 as at 62. Thereafter the winding is passed from the front face through the groove or lower notch 54 to the back face of member 16 and a similar number of turns are applied to the lower groove 38. The end of the winding is passed back through notch 54 and electrically secured as by solder or welding to the tongue of lower terminal 44, as at point 64. As seen in the enlarged view FIG. 9, the top and bottom turns of the solenoid winding pass directly across the outer faces of both rows of cores.

The second core housing part 14, FIGS. 5, 6 and 9, includes two rows of bosses and 72 respectively which have grooves formed therein as at 74. The bosses are of a size to be received snugly in the core recesses 32 and 34 when the two housing parts are in assembled relationship, as best seen in FIGS. 4 and 9. Grooves 74 are matched to and form continuations of the grooves 38 and 39 respectively, and provide an enclosure to lock in the upper and lower turns of the solenoid windings. Moreover, part 14 is provided with bores 76 located coaxially with the circular bosses 70, 72 and apertures 80, 82 to facilitate the passage of sense windings 100 and 102 through the cores. Similar apertures 80a and 82a are located in face 42 of part 16 in an in-line relationship with apertures 80, 82 when the housing parts 14, 16 are assembled in the relationship as seen in FIGS. 4 and 9.

A pair of mounting holes, one circular as at 84 and the other rectangular as at 86, FIGS. 4 and 5, are pro vided at opposite ends of the parts 14 and 16 to enable their mounting upon the transverse non-magnetic tie rods 20. The rectangular holes 86 are slightly oversize in the longitudinal direction as indicated at 87 to permit slight changes in length of the parts due to shrinkage or thermal variations, but at the same time limit the vertical tolerances within prescribed limits.

The size of the memory plane 10 is determined by the number of cores placed in the rows of each core module, the number of modules assembled columnwise upon the tie rods, and the number of columns, only two of the latter being shown here. Raised mounting pads 90, 92 on side 42 of part 16 (FIG. 4) and 94, 96 on part 14 (FIG. 6) serve to space adjacent modules 12 one from another. When the desired predetermined number of modules have been mounted upon the tie rods, U-shaped sense wires 100 and 102 are threaded axially through the columns of cores. With reference to FIGS. 3 and 9, it is seen that the arms of the U-shaped sense wire 100 are threaded through the innermost apertures 82a, 82 of the top and bottom rows of modules, while the arms of wire 102 are threaded through apertures 80a, 80 of the units. The base portions of the U-shaped sense wires are separated by a pressure sensitive strip 104 which has high insulative properties and is effective to prevent shorting of said wires. The end frame member 22 is shown as including an enlarged bore 106 and apertures 108, 110 in line with 80, 82 respectively through which the free ends of the sense wires extend.

The aforementioned shields 26, 28, FIG. 8, preferably formed of non-magnetic material such as aluminum, and of channel shape, are mounted upon the opposite ends of the'core modules. Shield 26, in addition, is comblike in form having notches 27 cut in the side wall thereof to permit the passage of the electrical terminals 44-46 therethrough. The member 26 is passed laterally over the terminal ends of the modules 12 so that the top and bottom flanges of the member embrace undercut surfaces on top and bottom portions 110, 1100, and 112, 112a (FIG. 6) of the units 12 and are locked in place by means of depressed tongue or detent portions 114 (FIG. 1) formed in the top flange of the channel member. The ends of the modules opposite to channel 26 are embraced between upper and lower flanges of the channel-shaped shield 28, said flanges being likewise received in complemental top and bottom cut away portions 116, 116a and 118, 118a of parts 16 and 14. Detent portions 120 contained in the top flange of shield 28, FIG. 1, are suitably deflected to engage shoulders 117 117a of cut-away portions 116, 116a. While the shields 26, 28 are shown embracing a plurality of enclosure units 12, it is apparent that shields individual to each core enclosure unit 12 could be employed in lieu of the construction shown. A related disclosure which does not include the inventive aspect of this present application of including shields 26 and 28 is contained in Serial No. 112,564, filed May 25, 1961, in the names of Glen Heildler and Stanley Schneider and assigned to a common assignee.

The memory of the present invention employs the technique which provides electrically alterable, randomaccess, high-speed, non-destructive read. This technique described in detail in the above-mentioned co-pending Tillman application employs the principle of orthogonal magnetic fields to read the standard ferrite memory cores 36, used in the herein described memory plane configuration. In order to non-destructively perform an interrogate operation of a core contained within a desided module, a pulsing current, preferably of high frequency, is applied to a desired winding 58. The retentive stored state of the core is determined by detecting the polarity of the output voltage generated in a sense winding 100 and 102 threaded through the desired core. In order to write new information into a selected core, a pulsing current is applied to a desired winding 58 while at the same time causing a current of one polarity or the other to flow from a current source to the sense winding 100 and 102 which also serves as a write winding threading the selected core. The upper and lower groups of turns of the solenoid winding 58 contained in grooves 39 and 38 of part 14 are wound in a manner to produce H fields. Moreover, the H field produced by each group of turns of the winding adjacent to the centrally located cores normally will be dissimilar to the H field produces near the cores located at the extremities of the unit. In these end loop areas where the separate turns of the winding bend back upon themselves, a fringing effect is produced which causes the H field to be distorted adjacent the extreme end cores in each core holding part, and has as a consequence precluded the placement of cores in these end loop areas in prior constructions. The aforementioned channels or shields 26, 28 are effective to straighten the H field adjacent the end cores so that they compare favorably with the H fields adjacent the centrally located cores. This follows because the large magnitude high frequency electrical pulses applied to the winding 58 causes eddy currents to be induced in the aluminum shields 26, 28. These eddy currents in turn have associated therewith a magnetic field so that the total effect of the magnetic field set up by the eddy currents, and the H field set up by the solenoid windings, tend to produce a resultant H field which is more nearly aligned with the required or ideal H field orientation.

In FIGS. 1, 2, 8 and 9, the end frame members 22, 24 are shown provided with upper and lower pad portions 121, 122, 123 and 124, 125, 126 to facilitate accurate vertical stacking upon non-magnetic vertical tie rods 127, the end frame members being suitably apertured as at 128 for reception of the tie rods. The aforementioned planar members 30 are formed of suitable materials to constitute a static permanent magnet bias between adjacent core planes 10, and are clamped in place between the memory planes by the end members 22, 24. The bias magnets or planar members 30 in addition constitute damping pads to protect the memory planes against shock and vibration.

From the foregoing description of the illustrated em bodiment of the invention, it is appreciated that the simple Wiring configuration employed therein permits firm mounting of the magnetic cores between the parts 14 and 16 of the core modules, perm-its rapid and inexpensive fabrication of the memory planes 10, and provides reasonably high core packing density. It will be appreciated also that part 14 in addition to sealing the cores within part 16 is effective to space the core modules along tie rods so as to prevent cross-talk between solenoid windings employed in adjacent core modules. It should be further noted that only the sense windings 100, 102 need be threaded through the memory cores; while the solenoid windings 58 are wound around the outside of the part 16 transversely to the direction of the sense winding 100 to pass directly across the core faces.

Having thus shown, described and pointed out the fundamental novel features of the invention as applied to the presently preferred embodiment of the invention, it will be understood that various changes in the form and details of the device illustrated and its operation may be made by those skilled in the art without departing from the invention. It is the intention, therefore, to be limited only as indicated by the scope of the following claims.

What is claimed is:

1. A memory device comprising a plurality of elongated toroidal core supporting par-ts, said parts each including a row of like spaced recesses for supporting cores therein, a toroidal core having two opposite outer faces mounted in each said recess, each core being of a material having a substantially rectangular hysteresis loop, each said part being further formed of non-conducting material and having grooves in external surfaces thereof encircling the part along a plane containing the axes of said recesses, a winding including at least one turn wound in solenoid form encircling the row of cores taken as a whole and so that each core has said winding crossing its said two opposite outer faces and parallel thereto, said winding being received in said grooves, means for supporting said parts so that the cores in like spaced recesses are in coaxial alignment, sense winding means passed through said cores in coaxial alignment and plate means disposed at opposite ends of said parts adjacent the extremities of said solenoid windings for affecting the magnetic field adjacent the extremities of said solenoid windings caused by current flow therein.

2. In the memory device set forth in claim 1 wherein said means for supporting said parts constitute rectangular frames which include end bars and transversely disposed tie bars extending therebetween, said end bars including a plurality of raised bosses adapted to space adjacent frames one from another, and planar members disposed within the boundaries and between adjacent frames, said members formed of material to constitute a permanent magnetic bias to thereby enhance the signal produced in said cores by said solenoid windings.

3. A memory plane comprising, a plurality of core enclosing means of non-conducting material each including two parts joined in close connection and having complemental grooves in their contacting surfaces for receiving windings therein, one of said parts including rows of recesses for supporting cores therein, a toroidal core having two opposite outer faces mounted in each said recess, each core being of a material having a substantially rectangular hysteresis loop, a winding having a number of turns wound in solenoid form encircling each row of cores taken as a whole in said one part and received within the complemental grooves in the contacting surfaces of the two parts, said winding crossing said two opposite outer faces of each said core and being oriented parallel to said faces, said two parts including apertures disposed axially with respect to said cores, second windings received in said apertures and passed axially through said cores orthogonally with respect to said first windings, and end plate members disposed at opposite ends of said solenoid windings for affecting the magnetic field adjacent the opposite ends of said solenoid windings caused by current flow therein.

4. In the magnetic memory plane construction as set forth in claim 3 wherein said rows of recesses are disposed along top and bottom marginal edges of said one part, said solenoid windings including groups of turns to encircle the cores contained in said rows of recesses, and including an electrical terminal common to the solenoid windings encircling said rows.

5. In the magnetic memory plane set forth in claim 3 wherein the other of said two parts of said core enclosing means include raised boss portions adapted to be received in the recesses of said one part to retain and protect the magnetic cores therein, and] further serving to space adjacent core supporting parts in spaced apart relationship and to eliminate crosstalk between solenoid windings encircling said adjacent parts.

6. In the magnetic memory plane set forth in claim 3 wherein the complemental grooves in the contacting surfaces of the two parts of said core enclosure means are disposed along median planes containing the axes of said cores in said rows.

7. In the magnetic memory plane as set forth in claim 3 and including a pair of spaced parallel bars for supporting said enclosure means and wherein said two parts thereof include a plurality of raised boss portions defining the margins of the strip encircling said bars to space adjacent core enclosing means one from another.

8. In the memory plane set forth in claim 3 wherein said end plate members have high reluctance characteristics and are positioned to abut opposite end portions of said plurality of said two-part core enclosing means.

9. In the magnetic memory plane construction set forth in claim 8 wherein said plate members are channellike and formed of aluminum to constitute a magnetic shield for the elimination of spurious magnetic effects in the endmost magnetic cores contained in said core encircling means.

10. In the construction as set forth in claim 9 wherein said channel-like members embrace said end portions of said two-part core enclosing means and the extremities of the flange portions of said members terminate along a line tangent to the endmost recesses supporting said magnetic cores.

References Cited by the Examiner UNITED STATES PATENTS 2,820,216 1/58 Gottrup 340--174 2,934,748 4/60 Steimen 340-l74 2,945,215 7/60 Sprude 340-174 2,978,681 4/61 Sims et al 340-174 IRVING L. SRAGOW, Primary Examiner. 

1. A MEMORY DEVICE COMPRISING A PLURALITY OF ELONGATED TOROIDAL CORE SUPPORTING PARTS, SAID PARTS EACH INCLUDING A ROW OF LIKE SPACED RECESSES FOR SUPPORTING CORES THEREIN, A TOROIDAL CORE HAVING TWO OPPOSITE OUTER FACES MOUNTED IN EACH SAID RECESS, EACH CORE BEING OF A MATERIAL HAVING A SUBSTANTIALLY RECTANGULAR HYSTERESIS LOOP, EACH SAID PART BEING FURTHER FORMED OF NON-CONDUCTING MATERIAL AND HAVING GROOVES IN EXTERNAL SURFACES THEREOF ENCIRCLING THE PART ALONG A PLANE CONTAINING THE AXES OF SAID RECESSES, A WINDING INCLUDING AT LEAST ONE TURN WOUND IN SOLENOID FORM ENCIRCLING THE ROW OF CORES TAKEN AS A WHOLE AND SO THAT EACH CORE HAS SAID WINDING CROSSING ITS SAID TWO OPPOSITE OUTER FACES AND PARALLEL THERETO, SAID WINDING BEING RECEIVED IN SAID GROOVES, MEANS FOR SUPPORTING SAID PARTS TO THAT THE CORES IN LIKE SPACED RECESSES ARE IN COAXIAL ALIGNMENT, SENSE WINDING MEANS PASSED THROUGH SAID CORES IN COAXIAL ALIGNMENT AND PLATE MEANS DISPOSED AT OPPOSITE ENDS OF SAID PARTS ADJACENT THE EXTREMITIES OF SAID SOLENOID WINDINGS FOR AFFECTING THE MAGNETIC FIELD ADJACENT THE EXTREMITIES OF SAID SOLENOID WINDINGS CAUSED BY CURRENT FLOW THEREIN. 